Originally Posted by
Rabid Koala
Chas, I remember selling (and assembling) quite a few Interclubs back in my LBS days. Sure, we sold more Grand Sports and fewer TdF's, but I recall the Interclubs being reasonably popular. This was in early 1974.
Were those Interclubs the old ones with the foil decals or the newer models with the yellow or green plastic film decals that came out in 1974? The newer 1974 Interclubs came with clinchers instead of the sewups found on the earlier models.
In 1974 Gitane switched from Mel Pinto Imports their long time importer/distributor located in Virgina to Gitane Pacific in Hawthorn, CA. I don't know that Mel Pinto ever received any of the 1974 models???
I guess the folks at Gitane Pacific were hoping to make a killing but the Bike Boom came to a screeching halt about mid 1974. Before before then shops couldn't assemble sub $100 bikes fast enough.
After the bike boom ended there were still a lot of bikes sold but many US customers started looking for better quality models. Either they were upgrading from and entry level bike or they'd become more sophisticated buyers through exposure to the many bike related books and magazines that were available in the mid 70s and later.
Gitane Pacific missed the mark completely by focusing on entry level bikes including the bottom of the line French made Gitane Gypsy models.
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1975_pg1.jpg
They also tried bringing in some 38-40 Lb. made in Taiwan clunkers like the Gypsy Sport.
http://www.gitaneusa.com/images/catalog/1976_pg3.jpg
The 1974 Interclubs got 27" alloy clincher rims and the Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. They still came with Simplex Prestige derailleurs, MAFAC Racer brakes, Pivo bars and stems plus Sugino Maxi cast aluminum cranks. Some came with Huret Challenger derailleurs instead of the plastic Simplex ones.
The Tour de France models were hard to get. They changed the frames from all Reynolds 531 to only the 3 main tubes plus they used the hideous looking Huret honeycomb rear dropouts. The wheels were also switched from sewups to 27" alloy rimmed clinchers. They were also priced out of the market vs. the Peugeot PX10, Raleigh Competition and Motobecane Grand Jubilee, especially since many still used plastic Simplex Criterium derailleurs (a few had Huret Challenger derailleurs).
Gitane Pacific must have had a quantity of older model Interclubs and maybe a few TdFs in stock. In talking with a LBS owner here in the Bay Area who sold Gitanes back about that time, he told me that he had to take 1 sewup tired bike for every 5 entry level clincher tired Gran Sport models!
Chas. verktyg